


The Worst is Yet to Come (Jean Kirschstein x Fem!Reader)

by Invaderzia1



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Demon AU, Demon Deals, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-03-31 18:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Invaderzia1/pseuds/Invaderzia1
Summary: When (Y/n) makes a deal with a demon in order to protect her love it goes horribly awry, but is there any way to possibly fix it?In a world filled with demons and humans, there is bound to be trouble.





	1. Prologue (Basically just Background info)

(This is super nonformal and the only chapter this will happen to)  
So it is set in the modern universe and there is a supernatural element to it.

So instead of Titan shifters, they are demons.

Demons have power to fight with certain magical elements and are known to make deals with humans in order to gain something of significance from them. Many business men take these deals in order to become successful, only to have their reputations ruined or worse their families destroyed.

The demon world is all divided into different factions as well.

Annie, Bertholdt, Reiner are all part of the Warrior faction, along with Porco, Pieck, Zeke. They are he main faction that will be mentioned. They are also one of the more powerful factions. ABR are known to have infiltrated the main land and have done many attacks around the city. They are seen fighting against the our protagonists.

The story is going to follow Reader and be mainly in Jeans point of view. They are a part of a group of their friends who have been fighting back against the Warrior faction for some time. Reader and Jean are a couple (yay)!!

Eren is of course a half-demon, having not known till he was 14 years old and came face to face with some demons who tried to attack him. Eren is able to easily hide his demon form and powers, but can disguise himself as a demon.

Jean didn’t get involved with the rest of the crew until a rival demon faction had attacked their town, during this time his best friend, Marco, had been brutally killed and Jean took personal responsibility over the death, feeling that he could’ve done something more. In order to avenge Marco and protect those he loves from being attacked he joined up with everyone else.

Reader joined the crew after Jean did, not wanting her boyfriend to go off with out her. She joined for different reasons separate from Jean.

The demons all reside in either Hell or the main land, where they hide their identities and act as regular humans. A good number of peaceful demons do live on the main land and cause no sort of problems, but their is a ever increasing group of demons who go to the main land into order to cause chaos or worse. Eren and co come in to fight of these demons, in order to preserve their peaceful lives.

Each member of the group has their own special kind of demon or magical weapon. Bullets and normal weapons won’t hurt demons so they need these magical weapons in order to do any kind of damage.

Most humans don’t know demons exist or at least have much interaction with them.

Historia and Ymir are a thing, but Ymir is a rogue demon. She doesn’t belong to any faction and tends to act on her own. She resides mainly on the main lands, but does disappear to hell often. She has worked with the Warriors before and gone back and forth helping Eren and co out, due mainly to Historia.


	2. Never Make a Deal with a Demon

“I’LL DO ANYTHING, JUST PLEASE DON’T HURT HIM!”

Everything felt as if it had frozen as the words left her mouth. Everyone’s attention had been drawn to the girl, who was on the ground crying out. The entire fight that had been happening ceased as everyone had stopped. No longer was everyone fighting against the Warrior’s, even those demons had stopped to take in the scene. I was still hung in the air, with the claw like hand of the burly demon against my neck. It only took a few seconds for our enemy, the demon Reiner, to throw my body to the ground and make his way over to her.

Nobody tried to stop him as he made his way over, everyone too perplexed by his sudden interest in her. I was frozen in fear, unable to move to her. Instead, I sat and watched like a fool.

Once he stood in front of her, he looked down, only facing her. He let out a hefty laugh before speaking.

“Anything, you say?” The devilish tone in his voice prominent.

“Yes, anything. Please, don’t hurt him.” She cried out.

The rest of the Warrior’s began to look at each other, confused by the exchange. Annie kicked Eren away from her, shooting a feral glare at Reiner.

“Reiner, what the fuck are you doing? There’s no time for us to be _fucking_ around!” She spat at him, her eyes glowing a darker shade of red than before.

Reiner, ignoring Annie’s remark, kneeled down to (Y/n)’s level, offering a hand to her. She weakly accepted, more tears falling down her face.

“Well, how about this, we’ll cut this whole party short and I promise to leave your boy unharmed, but in return it going to take something from you.”

As the words hit me, I tried to stand up, but found a sudden force stopping me from interfering. One of the demons here must be doing it. My eyes were wide as I tried to break from this force, trying to scream for her not to take it. No sound was produced from my throat however.

“W-What do you want?”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not asking much of you. How heartless do you think I am? No, what I want is just some of your memories.”

Everything was quite again, both sides taking in this whole deal that was going down.

Reiner pulled them both up, helping (Y/n) to her feet. Her face was contorted in fear and confusion, her eyes moving from me and Reiner erratically. She stopped after a minute and shut her eyes. Then she nodded her head.

I felt everything inside me shut down. I was screaming, pleading for her to stop this. Was she insane? I didn’t deserve this at all, why was she doing this?

“So you agree then? We will spare not only the boy, but the rest of your companions in return for your memories.”

She just nodded her head, more tears falling from her face as she did.

“No, no. We need to hear you agree to it. Come on now, say it.” Reiner told her, almost too delighted in tormenting her.

“Yes, yes I agree. Please just, don’t hurt him.” She cried out.

“Perfect.”

Reiner then dipped down, pressing his lips against hers as a dark mist surrounded them. It encompasses both their bodies for a few seconds. A bright light then moved from her body to his as they pulled away, she mouthed the words “I love you” to me. Then Reiner dropped her and her body fell limp to the ground, where she laid unmoving and unresponsive.

I was frozen in shock as I watched her fall, everything felt paused for that first couple of seconds after she hit the ground. I quickly recovered and ran to her side, finding my body now free and my voice rambling anything and everything. I was overcome with worry as I cradled her in my arms, whispering for her to be okay.

I was unaware of my friends running up behind me, circling us in worry, or that our enemies had indeed fled from the scene. None of that mattered. She was the only thing that mattered to me. I cried into her shoulder, not caring who heard me, as I begged her to wake up.

She began to move after a minute passed, slowly awaking. I stared into her eyes as she took in her surroundings, moving from each of our friends then down to me. She tensed immediately as she looked at me, almost like I was a stranger. When I tried to hold her close she pushed me away, crawling away from me in horror.

“B-Babe, what’s wrong?” I asked, cautiously moving my hand out for her.

“I’m sorry, I-I don’t know who you are, I think you have the wrong person.” She stuttered out.

Her words hit me like a train. Sending my entire world crashing down. Everything we had together, was gone.

As I sat on the ground, pathetically staring back at her. The rest of the group approached, Sasha taking the lead in trying to calm her down. As Sasha got closer to her, the (h/c) girl just gave her a confused look, as if she was searching for answers from her.

“Sasha, whats going on? Where am I?”

Everyone was taken back by the girl, she didn’t remember her boyfriend but she remembered Sasha. As they questioned her, leading us all to Eren’s apartment, it became evident she knew who everyone was. Everyone except me. Then it hit me, the demon didn’t take away all her memories. Only the memories of me.

We tried to explain it to her, who I was and what had happened, but she got even more confused. The only way we were able to tell her that I was in fact her boyfriend was when the group pulled up many different photos of us being together. She looked perplexed and kind of disappointed by this. She was able to fully understand the whole fighting demons thing, but having me as her boyfriend seemed to be impossible.

She stared at me, as if she was examining me. It was strange, her gaze was awkward and tense as she tried to make a little sense of this whole scenario. It hurt me to look at her, everything in me was screaming to pull her close and cry. The room was still spinning and the radio static in my head was killing me. I felt as if I wasn’t even there any more, like I was trapped inside myself as the shell of my body continued on.

“So… we used to date?” She asked, her head cocked to the side.

“Not used to… are dating.” I explained, my voice weak and sad. Pathetic.

Her lips were pursed in a tight line as she tried even more to understand. I know she was confused, but it hurt to have to convince her that we are dating. It hurt to have to explain that I wasn’t just some random nobody. It hurt. Everything hurt.

“H-How long were we together?”

“Are together. And for five years now.” I replied, staring down at the ground. It was more bearable than looking at her face.

“S-Sorry, sorry. It’s just weird saying that.” She apologized. Her awkward laugh made it all more worse for me, knowing she had the habit with strangers. “So, um… _Gene_ , tell me about yourself!!”

I knew she was trying her hardest to make this less awkward, to try to make this better to the best of her ability. But it hurt. She couldn’t even say my name correctly. I just threw my head into my hands, the tears already pouring out pathetically as I wept.

“I, um-Gene, are you o-okay?” She stuttered out, awkwardly unsure of what to do.

Luckily, Eren and Mikasa weren’t far away from us. They ran to both our sides, eren showing me a sliver of kindness not normally given to me. I wouldn’t dare admit it, but the fact that he did meant a lot to me. Mikasa pulled (Y/n) away, ushering into another room, one far away from me. As the rest of the group heard the commotion, Armin and Historia joined Eren and I.

I didn’t care what they thought of me anymore. I didn’t care that I had been crying for hours now. It didn’t matter to me, I was a broken man now. I just lost my other half and she couldn’t even pronounce my name right. I cried for a few minutes longer, as armin and Eren tried to calm me down.

“Jesus dude, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone this torn up before…” Eren muttered to himself, taken aback by the weakness in me.

Armin, elbowing Eren, shot me an apologetic look as he rubbed my back.

“Come on, pull yourself together dude. It’ll get better.” Eren murmured, awkwardly giving it his bet effort to calm me down.

“You don’t understand, she can’t even pronounce my fucking name right! It hurts, she’s gone. She’s not mine anymore. Why did she do this? Why?” I wailed, my tears starting right back up again as I sunk further down into my depression. “Why is she so fucking stupid? Making a deal with a demon? Why?”

“Jean, you have to calm down. This isn’t helping anything and you are just scaring her more.” Armin jumped in, pleading for me to stop my fit.

Pathetically, I began wiping the tears and snot from my face, realizing how disgusting I must look right now. Luckily, Historia grabbed a box of tissues on the side table next to us, forcing them onto me.

“Maybe we can fix this… you know, there has to be a way for her to regain her memories.” Eren thought out loud.

I weakly looked up at him, my eyes blank with emotion.

“H-Historia, you could call Ymir up!! She’s one of them, maybe she can counteract it or get them back or something.” Eren rambled on, trying to find anything at all to give me a sliver of hope.

“Y-Yeah, maybe we can find some loophole… I’m sure we can… fix this.” Armin added, clearly not believing Erens words either.

Both boys turned to Historia, searching for any sort of hope from the girl.

“I can always try Ymir… it’s worth a shot…” her voice wasn’t hopefully, but she didn’t out right reject the suggestion either.

I felt as if there was a small sliver of hope now, needing something to hold onto in order to keep sane. Ymir was a demon like the Warriors, but she didn’t really have any sort of definitive motive or side she was on. As long as she had Historia she would just follow her.

Historia went and locked the door, not wanting to be interrupted by any one while she did this. She pulled out her necklace, clutching it in her hand as she repeated some phrases into it. It began to glow red and she summoned Ymir to her, a red seal forming on the ground in front of her. It took only a minute for Ymir to appear in front us.

Ymir was a rogue demon, not belonging to any one demon faction, such as the Warriors like Reiner. She could, if she wanted, but choose not to concern herself with that drama unless it ultimately helped her in some way. Due to this, she wore normal clothes like most humans do, the only demonic apparel on her being the matching necklace she has with Historia. Her horns, cone shaped and pointy, jutted from her head and bright red in coloration.

“Yo, what’s up?” She said, nonchalantly before turning to look at me. “Jesus Christ, Kirschstein. You look like someone kicked your puppy.”

“Ymir!” Historia hissed, smacking Ymir upside the head.

Armin and Historia decided to fill Ymir in for me, not wanting to stress me out more than I already was. Her usual easy going nature turned serious after they finished, a weird change of tone for her.

“Shit, this is bad. She made a deal with Reiner? Does she have a fucking death wish?”

“Is there anything you can do?”

Ymir thought for sometime, pacing back and forth trying to figure some sort of plan out.

“Fuck, I don’t know. I don’t think I can personally do anything since she did make a binding deal with Reiner, but I think there’s a possibility you all can do something.”

My eyes widened as I heard this, feeling a spark inside me ignite. I felt eren smack my back, what I assumed was his way of giving my support.

“Really?” I asked, hopeful.

“ _Maybe_. I’m not saying it’s a hundred percent guaranteed to work, but I’m sure there’s something you can do.” Her tone was sharp and uncertain. “If you give me some time, I can probably gather some research or some shit and see what I can do. Though it may help if someone like Armin came with me.”

Armin tensed at Ymir’s suggestion, but nodded his head none the less.

“If it means helping (Y/n) and Jean I’d do anything.” Armin said, confidently.

“Good, because I’m going to have to take you back to hell with me. It’ll be the easiest way for us to research.”

“Wait, I’ll have to go to hell?” Armin asked, his confidence wavering.

“It’s the only way. It’s not as bad as everyone says it is, though.”

Armin nervously looked at Eren for support, before looking at me. The hopefulness in my eyes must have been enough for him, as he nodded his head to Ymir.

“I’ll do it, it’s for the greater good.”

“Great, now there’s just one more thing i have to do.”

Ymir turned to look at me, getting in close before she brought one of her hands under my chin, making me look up to her. She studied my face for some time before speaking.

“Kirschstein, are you willing to do anything to help her?”

“Anything at all.”

“No matter what the cost is?”

“Of course, she means the world to me.”

Ymir let go of my face and nodded, before turning to Historia and embracing her closely. The two continued for a few seconds before Ymir pulled away, getting herself into position to head back.

“Alright, Armin, be ready in a hour. I won’t wait around for you any longer than that.” She told him, giving him a harsh glare. Slowly, she turned to me, as a seal began to form on the ground, glowing a faint red light. “Hey, if this thing doesn’t work out you can always try to win her over again. Though with you, that may be hard to do.” She let out a snarky laugh as the seal began enveloping her, transporting her away.

Once everything died down, I looked over at Armin, who seemed more nervous than before. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, startling him.

“Listen, Armin… this means a lot to me. I appreciate you doing this.”

“Jean, it’s really no problem. (Y/n) has been like a sister to me and I know how happy you made her, I want to do everything in my power to help her.” Armins big eyes stared back into mine, filling me with more hope.

Eren places a hand on Armins back, nudging him to the door.

“Come on, we should probably get you all ready to go.”

Armin nodded and both boys got up off the bed and made their way out the room, heading down the hall to Armins room. I decided I should make my way to the living room and join everyone else. Historia followed behind me, turning her attention to her phone in order to distract herself.

As I made my way to the living room, I noticed most of our friends were all on the couch, along with (Y/n). They seemed to be watching some television show that I didn’t recognize. Upon entering, the group stared at me, trying to get a read on whether I was okay or not. I just nodded my head as in order to tell them shit was okay. Unready to be around her yet, I entered the open kitchen, deciding to sit at the island and keep my distance.

I was unaware of another set of dark eyes on me, watching me from the room.


	3. The Long Road Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This will mostly be in Jean's POV unless otherwised stated, just an fyi.  
> Feedback is appreciated and very much welcomed yall.

Upon entering the kitchen, I pulled my phone out in order to distract myself from the awkward tension in the air. I failed to notice a familiar raven haired female slip away from the rest of the group and join me. She used my lack of awareness to her advantage and pulled me to the farthest side of the kitchen, trapping me between her and the corner of counter. I put my phone on the counter top, turning my focus onto her.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, but I’m cooling down now. No need to worry.” I answered, shrugging off her concern.

She placed a hand on my arm, taking me aback by her sudden warmness. I look into her eyes, which were staring back into mine. Her usual stoic attitude had been pushed aside by her worry.

“Jean, promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

Frozen in shock, I stared back at her. Unable to formulate any type of words or coherent sentences. I was overcome with a feeling of guilt and worry. Mikasa had never been open about her concern like this, mainly saving this for Eren and Armin. She must’ve taken my silence as a sign to keep going.

“Please, I know this is tough, but none of us want to see you go off and hurt yourself trying to help her.” She started, her grip on my arm tightening. “Don’t go out and do something that’ll get you killed, okay?”

“I don’t know if I can promise that. I will do anything I can for her, even if I put myself in harms way.”

Mikasa sighed, shaking her head in disapproval. “We all will do whatever we can to help her, but you can’t push yourself like this. She made that deal to save you, don’t let it go to waste.”

“I appreciate the concern, Mikasa. But if I have to give my life in order to return her memories of us, then I will.”

I must’ve struck a cord in her, as she slapped me across the cheek. I stood stunned as I brought a hand to my pulsating cheek. Everyone else in the room was looking at us now, curious as to why Mikasa struck me. Her head was down, not letting me see her eyes. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the bathroom, pushing me roughly against the door as we entered.

“Mikasa, what the hell was that ab-“

“No, you listen. I won’t let you kill yourself if it means fixing this. Is that what (Y/n) would want? You’d sacrifice your life in order for her to remember, but what happens when she does and your gone? Don’t be an idiot.”

I stood stunned, lettin mikasa’s words settle in me. I hadn’t been thinking rationally about any of this, letting my emotion take control.

“You’re right… but, I can’t just let her forget about everything we had. I can’t just sit by and watch as our life together fall apart. Damn it, I was going to propose to her.” I let myself speak freely, my bad temper getting the better of me.

“Jean, she’s still the same girl she’s always been. Try talking to her and I’m sure she will fall for you again. If it worked before it’ll work again. You are being irrational.”

I clenched my hands into fists, my blood boiling as I realized Mikasa was right. If I’m unable to find a way to fix this I can always try again. God, I’m an idiot.

“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid, Jean.” Mikasa repeated, releasing her tense grip on my shoulders and softening her features.

“I… I promise.”

Mikasa released a sigh of relief, straightening up and fixing my shirt she had messed up. She peered back into my eyes, her cold eyes boaring into my soul.

“Good, I’m sorry for being harsh with you, I needed to snap some sense into you.”

I raised my hand up, waving off her apology. “No, don’t be. I was bein an asshole. I should be the one apologizing.”

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask me.” Was all she said before she left the bathroom.

I stood there for a a few minutes. Reflecting on everything that had happened and calm my self. Turning on the faucet on and splashing cold water onto my face. As is stared at my reflection, I felt disgusted with what I saw. I looked pathetic. Red, puffy eyes with dark bags underneath. My hair was dishelved and wild. I still had dirt from our fight earlier on my face along with a bright red hand print.

I wanted to thrust my hand through the damn mirror. To rid myself of the image it presented me, so I wouldn’t have to face the facts anymore. But I knew better. I attempted to clean myself up, gettin most of the dirt off and fixing my hair. But I still looked pathetic.

I sighed to myself and as I was about to exit the bathroom, someone knocked on the door. I opened it and saw (Y/n) shyly waiting for me.

“S-Sorry, I was just wondering if we could talk.”

I nodded and let her enter the bathroom. She timidly slid past me, trying hard not to touch me. Taking a seat on the toilet cover. I shut the door and turned to her, staying by the door as to keep my distance.

“Gen-Jean!! Sorry… I didn’t mean to do that, I promise. It was an accident, I swear.” I raised my hand to stop her from apologizing, calming her down slightly. “Sorry, sorry… I just wanted to talk to you about this. Or rather _us_.”

I tried to hide my excitement, not wanting to creep her out more than I’m sure I already have.

“If we were together before this… I mean, are together… then I don’t want to distrupt it. I’m willing to try to make it work, just not the same as it used to be.” She awkwardly said, fiddling with her hair, a nervous habit she’s had for a while.

I stared at her in awe, amazed by her kindness towards me.

“Is that okay?”

“Y-Yes, I’d be okay with that. I mean, if that’s what you want to do!” I was sputtering like a flustered school girl, making who I originally felt about myself go down farther than it was.

“Yeah, as long as we aren’t going to fast into this… it’s just easier for everyone if we tried to make it work.”

I approached her slowly and cautiously, not wanting to startle her. When I realized it was fine to get close, I kneeled down in front of her, placing a finger under her chin so she was looking at me.

“Are you comfortable with this? Staying with me and being my girlfriend even if you don’t remember me?”

She tensed up slightly, showing slight discomfort. However, she quickly put a smile on her face and nodded. It hurt to see how much she didn’t trust me.

“It’s fine, it’ll be awkward but I already have my stuff at your apartment and all so…” she laughed awkwardly.

“Then… can I ask you something weird?”

She nodded her head, nervously unsure of what I was about to say. I didn’t blame her, I hadn’t been the most stable person tonight as far as she’s seen.

“Do you feel anything towards me right now? Just anything?”

Her body tensed up immediately, I pulled my hand from under her chin as she awkwardly stared at me. Her mouth was slightly agape and her eyes wide in shock.

“I… um… what do you mean?”

“Like, looking at me what do you feel?”

She fell quiet for a few seconds before timidly speaking up.

“I-I don’t really feel anything about you… Not like in a bad way!! But just… nothing major is jumping out at me.”

“Are you attracted to me?” I questioned, feeling that hope and confidence slipping away.

She turned away from me, unable to say what she wanted while looking at me.

“Not really… I know for a fact I should be, you seem like my type, but with you I just can’t be.” She admitted.

I stared at her shocked, sure when we first met she didn’t fall in love with me immediately but she admitted to being attracted to me at least. Why was it different now? If all he took was her memories, shouldn’t she feel the same way she did at first.

She tapped my shoulder, bringing my attention back to her. As I looked up at her, she apologetically looked down at me.

“I-I’m sorry that was a little too honest. I didn’t mean to hurt you again… I just felt like you needed the truth.”

“D-Don’t worry. I’m glad you told the truth.” I replied, standing up and giving her some more space. I headed to the door when her voice caught my attention.

“Wait-!” I turned to look at her. “If you want I can sleep on the couch tonight.”

My face fell, my hopes crushed by her words. “No, you take the bed, I’ll take the couch.” I walked out of the bathroom, walking down the hall way to Armins room, entering the room and shutting the door behind me.

Both boys were still packing Armin’s bags. His usually clean room was a mess, clothes and books all over the ground. I stumbled over the mess and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Jean… you okay?” Armin voice asked, as he peered down onto me.

“Totally. Today has been amazing. Perfect.” I bluntly said.

Armin crosses his arms and sighed, not appreciating my sarcasm.

“Did something else happen?”

“Mikasa slapped me and told me not to be an idiot, (Y/n) came to me and said she wants to try being with me even though it feels weird and she apparently feels nothing towards me.”

“Jeez… it’s been a long 15 mins hasn’t it. So what, your going to take her home and live like nothing happened?” Eren pipped in.

“I don’t fucking know, I’m way too stressed now to process this. How has my life become such a shit show?” I began tugging at my hair, frustrated with everything happening.

I felt a pressure next to me, who I assumed was Armin. He swatted my hand out of my hair, stopping me from pulling most of my hair out.

“Come on, we can figure something out.”

“But what if we can’t? What if we aren’t able to fix this?”

“Then you have to make her like you again, it couldn’t have been that hard for you the first time.” Eren added, trying his best to help.

“Everyone keeps saying that, but what if I can’t?” I yelled out.

Armin and Eren didn’t say anything immediately, awkwardly exchanging glances with each other. Armin put a hand on my shoulder.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she said she isn’t attracted to me!!”

“Sure, but that could change with time. I mean, relationships take some time.”

“No, you dont understand. When me and (Y/n) first she was attracted to me, she thought I was at least good looking. But currently? She doesn’t even feel that. She said I should be her type but for some reason she doesn’t feel anything.”

Both boys looked at each other, exchanging a worried glance before turning back to jean.

“So what are you thinking….?” Eren trailed off,

“What if her memories isn’t the only thing that shit head took from her?”

I knew I sounded like a conspiracy theorist, all that I was missing was the aluminum hat at this point. But I felt something was wrong. Everything that was going on felt so wrong and weird.

Armin and Eren stared off at me for a few seconds before responding.

“That sounds ridiculous, besides wouldn’t he have had to tell her what she was agreeing to? They may be monsters, but they do have a morals.” Eren said.

“I don’t know, Reiner is a tricky demon. He manipulates situations and always has a few tricks up his sleeves.” Armin, threw some more clothes into his duffel bag, zipping it up as he continued his thought. “I do think what you are saying has some truth to it. It’s be too easy for you to live with her memories just being taken, you can just make new ones then.”

I firmly nodded to Armin, happy that I didn’t seem like a raging lunatic. Sitting up, I turned to armin, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I know this may not mean a lot to you, but she’s my entire world and I just… I need to try anything and everything to help her. I really owe you for this. It means a lot.”

“Jean, trust me, I would do anything to help you both. I really don’t mind going with Ymir either. Sure, Hell isnt the most dreamy vacation spot, but it has some really interesting research I’ve been dying to read.” Armin smiled up at me, his bright smile lighting more hope inside of me.

“Thank you.”

“Hey, not to ruin your moment, but how are we going to tell the others what we are doing?” Eren obnoxiously butted in.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean, they are definitely going to notice Armin is missing later, so how are we going to tell them what we are doing?”

Shit, I hadn’t thought of that yet. It was time for me to bullshit my way through this.

“You see, we aren’t going to tell them.” I started, letting the words just fall out my mouth.

Eren gave me a perplexed look, clearly unimpressed by my idea.

“No, no listen, if any of them find out they could screw this up. Mikasa would shut this down immediately, she’s too strict about this kind of stuff.”

“Yeah, what about Sasha or Connie? What can’t they know?” Eren challenged me.

“Sasha and Connie have too big of mouths, they can’t keep a secret to save their lives.”

Eren just sighed and gave up, accepting my bullshit response. Surprisingly it worked better than I expected.

As we were focused in on helping Armin pack, a knock came on the door, startling us. The door opened and a bored looking Historia walked in. She looked up at Armin, raising an eyebrow at him. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, I think I have everything packed.”

Historia just nodded, shutting the door behind her and locking it. We all gathered around her as she prepared to summon Ymir. She pulled her pendant out and repeated the chant she had used early. Like before, the seal on the floor appeared and Ymir materialized in front of us, looking as unimpressed as usual. Once everything calmed down, Ymir moved in front of Armin, staring down at him.

“Got what you need, coconut?” 

“Yeah, I just have a few bags so I hope thats enough.” Armin nervously replied.

“Aight, let’s get this show on the road. Best not to waste any more time.”

Eren walked up behind Armin, giving him a quick hug good bye and whispering something into his ear. I gave him a pat on the back, not being the overly huggy person despite what earlier may have made you believe.

Ymir picked up two of Armin’s bags, getting ready to make the jump back to Hell. She was just watching Armin as he said his goodbyes to Eren, seemingly annoyed at how long he was taking. Armin didn’t take long to finish up, picking up his other two bags and making his way next to Ymir. 

Ymir started focusing on opening the portal, the familiar red seal reappearing on the ground under them. Ymir blew a kiss to Historia before both of them became enveloped by the seal and disappearing from the room. 

Eren, Historia, and I shot each other a look before dispersing around the apartment. As I made my way towards the living room, (Y/n) approached me, her cautious attitude towards me making my heart burn. She nervously looked around the room, focusing on anything and everything that wasn’t me. 

“H-Hey, Jean… Could be go back home? It’s getting really late and um… I’m pretty tired.” The way she awkwardly stumbled over her words as she talked to me hurt even more, it felt like we were complete strangers now. I pushed that thought out of my mind, trying my best to remain calm.

“Yeah, just give me a second to get my stuff together and we can head back.” 

As she walked away from me, I began packing my stuff up, grabbing my jacket and keys. I made my way to the door way of the apartment, announcing to everyone I was making my way out. (Y/n) quickly followed behind me, waving good bye to the rest of our friends. 

As we made it through the halls of the apartment and outside, it was clear (Y/n) was trying her best to make things less awkward. I felt her hand nervously reach for mine, attempting to act as if we were a couple. I was happy to accept it, threading our fingers together like we always had done. It felt so right but yet so weird. I peered down at her form, observing her every movement. She kept nervously biting her lip, it was clear she was uncomfortable with doing this. 

I sighed and released her hand from mine, missing the feeling of her soft hand against mine almost immediately. She stared up at me, perplexed at why I had done that.

“Listen, don’t force yourself if you aren’t comfortable with this stuff.” She flinched at my words, scared that I may have another tantrum again. I couldn’t blame her, all I had been tonight was an absolute prick towards her.

“Sorry, I just thought it would make you feel better.” 

“Don’t apologize, I appreciate the thought. I just don’t want you to do this stuff because you think it’ll make me happy.” I carefully explained, trying my best not to upset her anymore. She just nodded, keeping her gaze on the sidewalk in front of her. 

The rest of the walk home was quiet, despite the occasional word or two. As we arrived at our apartment and i pulled my key out, I realized how weird this truly was going to be. I just hoped I would be able to keep my temper under control until we figured something out.


	4. The Tears Just Don't Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y'all this is a short chapter i am so sorry

_Jean POV_

Waking up felt like hell, being so used to having (Y/n) cuddled up with me in our big mattress. Instead, I was curled up uncomfortably on our living room couch, alone and depressed. The memories of the previous day hit me painfully, reminding me it was more than just a nightmare. 

All throughout the night I have the same nightmare on repeat, or well not nightmare per say, but memory. I kept seeing the memory of (Y/n) making that deal replaying in my mind over and over again. No matter how many times it replayed, I was still stuck to the ground, unable to help her. It was torture and I was sure it was permanently ingrained in my mind now.

As I sat up on the couch I noticed how sore my body was. A mix of the bruises from yesterday and poor sleeping position from the couch are to blame for this. I stretched my arm out, attempting to unknot it when I noticed a significantly dark bruise on it, the light from outside emphasizing its coloration. I remember falling onto that exact area when Reiner dropped me yesterday, hitting the ground significantly hard. 

I turned my head as I stretched my neck, nearly being blinded by the light from outside. I held my hand in front of my eyes, shielding them from the piercing light as continued to wake up. My first course of action was to close those damn blinds now, tiredly walking from the couch to the window in order to stop my retinas from being burned off. Once that had been done, I took in the room. 

The first thing my eyes went to was the many pictures around the room of (Y/n) and me, another sad reminder of what used to be. Each one of them containing a memory she could no longer remember. I frowned at the thought. As I looked at the room more, I saw the cable box, telling me it was around 10 am now. I maneuvered my way into our kitchen, which out looked the living room. 

I had no strength in me, feeling too depressed to want to do any sort of productive activity. This feeling reminded of when I was a teenager, bringing a painful flash back of my best friend. Marco. I tensed up at the memory of him, not wanting to break down again. My thoughts became flooded with even more depressed thoughts, making me remember these painful memories. I couldn’t even remember what his voice sounded like anymore. His face was blurry in my memories. It hurt to realize. Everything inside me hurt, the combined thought of Marco and (Y/n) becoming too much for me. Hot tears began spilling from my eyes, like it was an avalanche. I buried my face in my hands in an attempted to stop the tears from flowing. 

I began calming my breathing, taking deep breaths to stop myself from full on breaking down. I couldn’t let myself fall apart again. I had to stay strong, for my sake. I leaned my body over the counter top, my arms resting on the marble top. I had myself back under control pretty quickly.

It had been quite sometime since I had last thought of Marco like that. Perhaps it was just the situation at hand which brought the memory back to my mind. He was one of my closest friends, his death hitting too close for comfort with me. I remember the long nights i spent alone, blaming myself for everything I didn’t do. I closed myself off from the world for a brief period. It was the only way I could cope with it. I shut her out too. But she was always right there beside me, trying her best to get me to deal with it. Shit, I can’t keep thinking of this, it’ll only make things worse. 

Wiping the remaining tears from my face, I began to sort through my thoughts. I tried my best to rid myself of any depressing thoughts I may be harboring inside myself. However, a loud growling sound interrupted my thoughts, bringing me to the realization I hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Perhaps I should start making myself some breakfast. 

Looking at the time again then at the fridge, I decided to start cooking. I began pulling out pans and dishes, preparing for my meal. I tried my best to stay quiet as to not wake (Y/n).

* * *

_Your POV_

I was awoken by the sound of rustling in the room outside of my bedroom, scaring me awake at the thought of some intruder in my apartment. My panic subsided though when I remembered who it was, the previous night’s events coming to mind. I laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling of the room. I turned my head to the side, staring at the side table on the other side of the bed. 

There sat a black picture frame, inside it was a picture I didn’t remember taking, but knew it was me. Staring at it, I hoped to conjure some sort of memory of this. But nothing came to. Not even a feeling of deja vu or anything, it was like it had been permanently erased for only my memory. It was frustrating to no end. It wasn’t like all of my memories were gone either, if someone asked me to recall what I had made for dinner last weekend I’d be able to confidently tell them chicken Parmesan. But anything relating to or involving that man was gone. You remembered the past couple years of your life as being relatively normal, well, as normal as someone dealing with demons could be, but rather lonely as you had been single for the entirety of it. 

Seeing photos of him and I together felt wrong to me, how could it not? I knew the person in the photo was me, but it couldn’t possibly be. When everyone explained to you last night what had happened, it was impossible for me not to feel like this was so weird prank. If I didn’t have past experience with demons I probably wouldn’t have believed them either. 

I shook my head, ridding myself of the thoughts that were plaguing me. I sat up in the bed and made my way towards the door. I opened it slightly, but stopped when I heard crying. I peered out the door and say Jean standing in the kitchen, holding his head in his hands as he leaned over the counter, shaking as he cried. 

It was uncomfortable to watch, so I opted to wait in the bed room, slowly closing the door and making my way back to the bed. I sat up back down on the bed, pulling my phone from its position on the side draw next to me. I noticed I had received a few texts from Sasha and Mikasa, I answered them quickly letting them know I was okay.

I laid my phone down on the bed and walked around the bed room, observing the oddities in it that I didn’t remember. There was more clothes than I had remembered own, which I assumed would be Jean’s. There was a lot of dirty socks and underwear thrown around the room, making me cringe at the sight. I kicked them to a corner, making a pathway for me to walk around. I opened a dresser draw and found a pile of my clothes. It was a better time than ever I assumed to get dressed, so I undressed and threw on some comfortable clothes. 

The room was beginning to feel cramped, making me want to leave it as soon as possible, but the possibility of seeing Jean crying again made you more uncomfortable. Sighing to myself, I began cleaning the room up, having nothing better to do anyways. As i picked up what I assumed was Jean’s clothes, my mind wandered to said male.

Everyone kept telling you how important he was to you, but it was like staring at a stranger. What made it weirder is how when you looked at him, you knew he was definitely your type and you should definitely find him attractive. But the more you thought about it, the more frustrated you became. You should be attracted to him, especially if you were dating. 

“What’s wrong with me?” You muttered to yourself, throwing his clothes into the laundry basket in the corner. Staring down at those clothes, you felt defeated. How long could I keep this up? 

A knock on the door caught my attention, bringing me back to my senses. 

“Breakfast is almost ready.” Jean’s voice announced. 

“I’ll be out in a minute.” I squeaked out, catching myself off guard with my own shyness. 

I mentally scolded myself for acting like that, realizing how pathetic I must sound. I couldn’t help it though, He was a stranger to me, it felt uncomfortable for me to let my guard down around him. Even if everyone was saying you two were a thing, I couldn’t just act like he was some old friend of mine. I hardly knew the guy. I just needed to get through breakfast and then get out of the apartment for a while.

* * *

_Jean’s POV_

I stared at the bedroom door, hoping she would come out and jump into my arms. That I could have one ounce of my regular life back. But when she didn’t immediately come out of the room I felt my hopes deflate. I made my way back to the kitchen, finishing the last of the preparations for the food. I sat down at the the table, putting some of the food I made on my plate. 

I ate in silence for a few minutes, until (Y/n) walked out of the bedroom. She sheepishly made her way over, taking a plate of food and sitting the furthest away from me. I knew she didn’t mean to act so distant, but it still hurt nonetheless.

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, the tension from yesterday still ever present. I could see (Y/n) cautiously looking over at me every so often. I knew I had to be the one to speak up and at least try to fix things. I cleared my throat, startling (Y/n). She nervously looked up at me, waiting for me to start talking.

“Listen, (Y/n). I just want to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I didn’t mean to scare you or make you uncomfortable in any way.” She was caught off guard by my words, unsure of how to respond to the sudden apology. She took a few seconds to gather her thoughts before responding. 

“It’s okay, with everything going on I understand why you acted the way you did.” She nervously bite her lip. “ I don’t really know how to handle all of this either.”

It was silent again, neither of us knowing what to say. I awkwardly played with the leftover bacon bits on my plate, moving them around my plate in order to distract myself. My head was pounding. Everything in my body was screaming at me to go over and pull her close. I couldn’t. I couldn’t handle being near her. It hurt. It hurt so much.

“I think I’m going to go out.” She announced, changing the subject to something less depressing.

“Oh, where are you going?”

“I’m going to go visit Mikasa and Sasha I think.”

“Oh thats nice.”

God damn this small talk, it was hell. Nothing about the exchange helped with the uncomfortable tension in the air. If anything, it only made it worse. We couldn’t even have a regular conversation with each other without it ending up being awkward. It was driving me up a wall, I don’t know how much longer of this I could take.

Luckily the rest of the meal was eaten in silence. (Y/n) quickly ate her food, shoveling all she could into her mouth in order to leave as soon as possible, I wanted to tell her to watch out so she wouldn’t choke but it just felt out of place. When she was finished she haphazardly cleaned her plate and rushed out the door, without even saying goodbye. 

The moment she left the apartment, something in me broke. I just dropped my head onto the table, wrapping my arms around it to hide. The tears effortlessly poured out, I couldn't stop them if I tried. 

She’s all I wanted in life. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Why? Why did this happen? Had I not suffered enough? They took Marco from me, now they want to rip (Y/n) from me. I promised I’d protect her and keep her safe, how could I have been so dumb? 

I was bawling my eyes out, not caring how loud I was. It didn’t matter anyways. I was pathetic and worthless. Maybe this is what I deserved. It must be. 

As I sunk further into my pit of self loathing, I suddenly remembered all the ways my friends were helping me, that I wasn’t alone. It was strange as it was so unpredictable, as if someone else had placed that thought there. I brushed my tears off and picked myself back up. I decided to clean the kitchen up, making myself do something productive rather than just cry all day. 

My cleaning of the kitchen took me into cleaning the living room which resulted in me stress cleaning the entire apartment. I had been able preoccupy myself for several hours now. It felt okay to ignore my problems for those past four hours, but it didn’t completely rid the constant feeling of dread looming over me. 

There were little things in the apartment that kept reminding me of her, reminding me of what we had. However, rather than upset it only fueled my desire to return her memories to her. To bring back the women I fell in love with. 

Once the apartment was nearly spotless, I decided to do some work of my own. While Ymir and Armin had better resources to work with, I could still pull out some old Demon textbooks I had lying around and figure out some way to help. When I pulled the three books out however, I realized how much of a task this was going to be. Both books were big. Not only were they all thick, but the were tall as well. Going through each of these books would be a task within itself. 

Throwing all three books down on the kitchen table, I decided it was best to start now rather than wait. I cracked one open and began my search. I just hoped (Y/n) wouldn’t be home till much later, not wanting to deal with the pain of seeing her again.


	5. The Bitter Taste of Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short Update, sorry guys college is kicking my ass currently. bleh

A week had gone by, each day a new challenge for me. Nothing between (Y/n) and I had changed, which left us in an awkward situation to be living in. It had been determined that she didn’t feel comfortable acting like everything was the same as before, making it quite clear early on she couldn’t handle it. It hurt to think about, how she acted like she was single while I was stuck in a weird purgatory state. I was in a relationship, but at the same time I wasn’t. 

However, I noticed she had been spending quite some time out of the apartment, She hadn’t stayed home a single day this week, which worried me. It scared me to think that possibly I was the reason she didn’t want to stay here. I couldn’t let my thoughts drift like that though, so I ignored it. 

Instead, I threw myself into the demon textbooks. I could barely sleep anymore with out being plagued with the same memory of what had happened. I was running solely on caffeine at this point. It had taken me nearly the entire week to go through them only to find out basically nothing. The textbooks had held nothing of importance to the task at hand, only serving to teach me information I already learned. For how dense they were, it was shocking how little help they proved to be. 

I began to drink my sorrows away. Finding refugee in my alcohol. I couldn’t help it, when I was drunk I didn’t have to live in reality. Those foul memories weren’t haunting me reminding me how I failed her when I was drinking.

I had been sitting in my apartment with Eren and Historia going over everything I had read and brainstorming with them. We were all sitting on the couches, reading through the textbooks again, desperately trying to see if we missed anything. 

“God, this fucking blows.” Eren said, throwing the huge book from his lap onto the coffee table. It hit the table with a loud bang, startling both Historia and I. 

“How about you stop complaining about it then and find something else to do then?” I snapped, overwhelmed the lack of sleep and stress. 

Eren raised his hands defensively in front of him, trying to calm me down. 

“Dude, I think you need to take a break from this. You look like shit.” Eren said, reaching to pull the book from my hands. It was easy for him to do, as I was so tired I didn’t even realize he was taking it. 

Historia placed her book on the coffee table, butting in to the conversation. “Yeah, this isn’t healthy Jean.” She placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it softly. 

“I can’t. I have to keep going. She needs to me.” I said, frustrated at the inconvenience. I reached my arm out to grab the books, only to have Eren swat my hand away.

“Jean, stop. Just sit back and relax.” Eren reprimanded, pushing my body back onto the couch. 

I attempted to push his hands off of me, but found he over powered me quite easily. I was like a toddler trying to push themselves out of their parents grip. It was infuriating, feeling like a useless child. I continued to struggle against him, forcing Historia to join in and hold me down. I slowly gave in, swallowing my pride.

“Fucking finally, I thought i was going to have to tie you down.” Eren complained, falling back onto the couch. I just grumbled in response, not having the strength to argue back.

“Seriously, you need to sleep. You wont be much help if you can’t even fight back against Eren-”

“Whats that supposed to mean?” Eren asked, insulted at Historia’s comment.

Historia, in turn, threw her phone at him, effectively shutting him up. We all sat down on the couch, taking a minute to relax. It felt nice, my body more than welcoming to the moment of relaxation. My eyes began to close as the room turned black. However, my moment of relaxition was quickly interrupted by a certain loud mouthed brunette. I must’ve been out longer than I expected as when I opened my eyes everyone had moved positions.

“Fucking Christ, Kirschstein... tell me you havent drank all this in a week?” I turned my head in the direction of his voice, finding Eren by my trash holding a large bottle of whiskey and giving me a worried look.

I huffed and crossed my arms, turning back around rather than answer him. However, Historia instead, gave me a harsh glare.

“Jean, did you drink all of those this week?” Her harsh tone bore into me.

“Maybe, why does it matter?” I was back to acting like a child again, too prideful to admit to the obvious fact that I had drank all of those.

Historia threw her head into her hands, weaving her fingers through her hair as she did. Clearly stressed with my childish behavior, Historia began to steady her breathing. She exhaled a large amount of air before looking up at me again.

“I’m trying to help you right now, don’t make this harder than it has to be.” She scolded, reminding me of my mother. I nodded my head, looking any where but at her. “Was that so hard?”

“Seriously? You drank all this by yourself?” Eren continued, causing me to drop my head down and stare at the floor in humiliation. “That can’t be healthy.”

It was weird hearing Eren being concerned for my health. We were friends, but not the type to be overtly caring or close. As he continued to probe through the trash, I felt everything close in around me again. My sleepless and nervous state clearly weighting me down more. As I continued to close into myself I was suddenly brought out of it, the front door opened.

Everyone turned to see who it was, scaring (Y/n) as she entered. She awkwardly stared back at us, confused. I turned my head away from her, not wanting to get emotional again.

“Hey guys.” Her cheery voice asked, moving around the apartment freely. I could hear Eren making a grunt of acknowledgement.

“Hey, (Y/n). What’s up?” Historia asked, making her way from me towards (Y/n).

“Nothing much, just meeting with a friend of mine.” She replied, I could hear her voice moving behind me.

“Oh, who? I thought everyone was busy today.” Historia asked, catching my attention. I turned back to them, seeing them both standing by the kitchen island. 

“Well... it’s someone you guys don’t know.”

“Oh,” Historia raised a curious eyebrow at her, “What’s her name?”

“Its a _him_ and _his_ name is Porco Galliard. I met him the other day when I was at the gym. Super fun guy.”

Everything in me stilled, frozen in place. With everything that was going on I couldn’t take this news. My heart was pounding hard as my thoughts raced. I felt like I could vomit, whether that be word vomit or real vomit, who’s to say.

“That’s great. How long have you known him now?” Historia asked, pushing through how awkward it felt.

“Only a few days now but we’ve been hanging out a lot. We went out to mini golf today.” You sounded happier than ever, not realizing how torn apart I was listening to it.

I felt Eren plop down next to me, awkwardly putting his hand on my shoulder. I turned my attention away from you back to the ground, biting my lip hard in order not to cry.

“That sounds like fun. When are you going to let the rest of us meet him?”

“Hopefully soon, it just feels wrong introducing him to everyone with everything that’s happened.” While she whispered the last part of her sentence, I didn’t miss it.

I could feel her uncomfortable gaze at the back of my head, even if it was for a few seconds. The rest of the conversation was continued through whipsered words, whatever you wanted to say not appropriate for me to hear. I sat in tortured silence for what felt like hours, unable to think of anything but you with another man.

“Alright, bye guys.” Your voice called out, returning me to reality. Your beautiful voice called out to me, grabbing my attention almost immediately. “Jean, I’ll be back later tonight so you don’t need to wait up for me. Sorry, I’ll try to be quiet when I come back.”

I grumbled something in response as the door shut. Nobody said anything at first, the only sound was from Historia as she walked back to the couch. Both her and Eren shoot me a sympathetic look.

“Maybe they are just friends...” Eren said, awkwardly trying to make me feel better.

Historia coughed, grabbing my attention. “Technically they are just friends... but it seems like that won’t be for long.”

“Perfect.” I muttered, too weak to explode into a fit of anger like usual.

“Come on, I’m sure they won’t. I mean, it’d be pretty weird for her to live with you if she started seeing someone else...” Eren let out an awkward laugh.

Historia just shook her head, her lips pushed into a tight line. “I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen. She seemed to really like him. They are going out again tonight, she stopped here to grab a jacket.”

I couldn’t hold myself back any longer, dropping my head down, too tired to cry. My throat felt like it was closing in on me as my breathing got heavier. I wanted to scream and cry, but nothing would come out. I weaved my fingers through my hair, trying to pull it out from stress.

Eren moved his hand down my back, rubbing comforting circles into it. Historia placed a hand on my knee, trying her best to be comforting.

I just let my self be weak, let myself fall apart in front of them. Leaning into Eren as I let myself become over come with grief. My body shook as I let out a wail, no tears coming out as I did. My throat was raw from the countless times I had cried the previous days. It hurt to cry but I felt justified in doing so.

i must’ve cried myself to sleep at some point, slipping away into a deep sleep. My first long sleep of that week. My dreams were still haunted with thoughts of (Y/n), but I still slept the entire night. I knew there was nothing I could do to convince her to stop seeing him.

Hopefully things would start looking my way soon, I prayed. Though whatever sinister power at play would make me work for that.


	6. A One Way Ticket To Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update, I really struggled writing this for a while. I had most of it done for a long long time, but there were different parts I couldn't figure out, SOOO i hope its good

9 more days of torture passed since I learned (Y/n) had been meeting with another guy. Everyday I watched her walk out that door I knew she was getting farther away from me. I was loosing her to someone else, I was loosing the love of my life. My thoughts had become more dangerous and toxic, I couldn’t be alone with them any more. All I wanted to do was cry and drink, throw myself into a disoriented state where I could relive my old life. The only way I could be happy.

It had been decided that I was to stay with Eren until I was able to properly care for myself. I felt like a child, but I knew it was for the best. I had packed up a good portion of my clothes and valuables, leaving behind our apartment. It hurt, no longer could I curl up to a picture frame of us while I drank myself asleep. But it’s what had to be done.

Currently, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, Eren, Historia, and I were all watching some movies. It had been a while most of us had hung out like this, especially without (Y/n) with us. It was ever present over us how weird it felt. Mikasa and Historia has taken over the main couch, laying out onto it. Sasha and Connie were cuddled on the ground with each other. Me and Eren had ourselves on the side couch, sitting comfortably on it. For the first time in a few week, my mind didn’t feel plagued with horrible thoughts of what had happened, rather I was able to enjoy the presence of my friends. It was nice.

“So have you seen that Porco guy yet?” Connie asked, stuffing his face with popcorn as he did.

“Yeah, she introduced us to him the other day.” Mikasa said, putting her phone down. “There’s something off with him, I can’t place it.”

“Yeah!!” Sasha exclaimed, throwing her hand up excitedly. “He seemed like an asshole too. I don’t know what she sees in him.”

I just sighed, not letting my depressive thoughts get the better of me. “Are you just saying that cuz I’m here or because you really didn’t like him? I’d rather you not pass judgement on someone just because you think it’ll make me feel better.”

Sasha whipped around, staring me into my eyes. “No! There’s something really weird about him and I don’t like it.”

I placed my hands up defensively, waving her excitement off.

“What about you guys? Have y’all seen him?” Connie questioned Eren and Historia.

Eren shook his head, disinterested in the conversation. Historia nodded however, catching Connie’s attention.

“Yeah? What did you think? Is he a dick like everyone is saying?”

“He just seemed disinterested in everyone who wasn’t (Y/n), as if we didn’t matter to him. If he was trying to make a good impression of us than he did a pisspoor job at it.” Historia replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Suddenly, Historia’s phone let off a loud buzz, startling a good portion of us. She reached into her pocket and answered it, scurrying out of the living room into one of the empty room. We all just shrugged it off as we continued to enjoy the movie.

After a couple minutes of uninterrupted peace and relaxation, a loud thud was heard, as if someone had just called from the apartment upstairs down to erens, followed by a faint red light from under the door frame where Historia was. A few muffled voices were heard from the room as everyone suspiciously turned to look at it.

Eren nudged me not so gently with his foot, making me turn to him. His panicked expression told me everything I needed to know. Ymir and Armin must be back. I nodded at him.

“Would you two know what’s going on in there?” Mikasa not so gently put, annoyed by this sudden development.

“Maybe Historia dropped a book or something.” Eren joked, shrugging his shoulders.

Mikasa didn’t like this joke however, narrowing her eyes at him. “Eren, what’s going on?”

Everyone’s eyes were on us, trying to figure out what was going on. We had been able to bullshit a reason Armin just disappeared, something about Erwin needing him for a conference or someshit. But we knew we weren’t going to be able to bull shit this. Especially with anymore loud mouth causing a scene in the next room over.

“Historia, you can come out!!” Eren yelled. “I guess it’s time to let you guys in on this.”

The door opened pretty quickly, Historia shuffling out first followed by Armin and lastly Ymir. Everyone was a little apprehensive around Ymir, past interactions with her coming to mind. Mikasa’s eyes glazed over them before turning to me.

“Good to see you guys again.” Ymir announced, making herself at home on Eren couch.

“Hmmmph, what are you doing here?” Connie asked, practically spitting his words at her.

“Oh come on, can’t I spend time with my favorite mortals and half demon.”

“I don’t know, seems like Jean and Eren were about the explain what was going on, however.”

“Oh this should be fun.” Ymir smirked.

I was getting pretty feed up with this back and forth, not finding Ymir and Connie’s conversation as entertaining as I would’ve. I slammed my hand down onto the coffee table in front of me, bringing the attention back to me.

“Fuck it, you want to know?” I exclaimed, my jaw clenching in anger as I spoke. “I asked Ymir here to help find some sort of way we can help (Y/n), she wanted to take Armin to Hell with her in order to research better.”

Everyone was taken aback by my words, shocked by how much they had been left out of the loop. However, they were quickly brought back when Mikasa slapped my face. Then she slapped Eren’s followed by Armins. All three of us nursed our red cheeks, staring up at her in shock.

“MIKASA WHAT THE HELL???” Eren yelled out.

“Why didn’t any of you tell us? Are you idiots?” Mikasa’s eyes were angry, her usual stoic mood gone in favor for this fiery anger. Her fist was clenched by her side, her knuckles white.

“We couldn’t, you would’ve tried to stop us. I needed to make sure I was doing anything I could to help (Y/n).” I spat back, not caring that Mikasa could and will kick my ass.

“But how can you trust Ymir so blindly?”

“Ouch. Hurting my feelings here, Mika.” Ymir said, interjecting her sly comment in between our argument.

Mikasa shot a glare at Ymir before continuing her tirade. “You could’ve gotten Armin hurt down there, who knows what could’ve happened.”

My jaw clenched even harder as I ground my teeth together, I knew Mikasa was just worried but I couldn’t take her scolding me over this.

“Guy, stop fighting.” Armin exclaimed, jumping in between Mikasa and I. “I went on my own accord, I wanted to help Jean as much as I could.”

Mikasa eyes stared down at Armin, softening slightly as she did. Her fist unclenched as she took a breath, calming herself down. She crossed her arms and turned away from us, taking a seat in the lounge chair on the opposite side of the main couch. I released a sigh of relief, calming my nerves ever slightly. Everyone else seemingly did the same, taking seats around the living room and staring up at Ymir and I.

“Anyone else got any stupid questions before I start or can I get into what we found?” Ymir asked, running a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face.

Nobody said anything, just staring up at her. Ymir sighed, rolling her eyes at everyone. She put her free arm around Historia, spreading herself out on the couch. Her jet black eyes scanned everyone’s face before settling in mine.

“Alright, lets get started then.” Her voice went for snarky to serious, preparing the rest of the room for what was to come. “So, bad news first, there’s no immediate fix to this.”

“What does that mean?” Eren jumped in, cutting Ymir off before she could continue.

“How about you let me explain before jumping in.” She glared. “Now, what I was going to say was there’s no simple solution to this.”

I stared back at her, waiting for her continue.

“There is some good news.” Armin nervously jumped in, turning attention from Ymir to him. “While there is no simple way to go about this, there is a way to fix this.”

I felt my heart leap from my chest, hope filling inside of me. My eyes widened as I sat up to listen more attentively. I couldn’t hide my excitement.

“W-What do we have to do?” I exclaimed. I could feel everyone’s eyes boring into me, I didn’t care about them.

“Well, there are two ways we can go about it. Though, they will be difficult and there’s no way to know if they will actually work.”

“I don’t care, I still need to try them. I can’t give up on her so easily.” I stood up in excitement, getting overworked by this new hope. I felt a pillow smash into my face, breaking me of my excitement.

“Sit down and let us explain this first.” Ymir yelled, snarling her sharp teeth at me.

Grumbling to myself, I reluctantly say down. I stared down Ymir and Armin as they began, bouncing my foot up and down impatiently.

“Okay… lets start with the first one, since it’s the least assine one.” Armin cleared his throat before speaking. “Well, we need travel to Hell and perform this ritual where Jean has to climb to the highest peak of the highest mountain in Hell, while carrying this medallion, then he has to bury it and wait for a bolt of lightning to strike that exact spot, at which point-“ Armin caught the collective look of uneasiness, stoping his explanation. “-oh… yeah, this one is pretty convoluted.”

“You think?” Eren replied, sarcastically.

Armin’s face went red in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head nervously. I shot Eren an annoyed look, but was as equally unimpressed by that method. It didn’t sound like he was even half way through with that and while I would try it, I wasn’t happy about it.

“Well,” Ymir started, “If you didn’t like that one you probably won’t like this next one.”

Ymir gave Armin a look, cuing him into continuing. He cleared his throat and, with less vigor than before, continued.

“Well, the next way is to get the demon to break the contract.”

Oh, that seems simple, I thought.

Everyone else must’ve had that same thought, as they exchanged a similar look, before looking back to Armin. Armin must’ve knew how confused everyone is.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” Armin stuttered out.

“Is that… all we have to do?” Sasha cautiously asked, quirking an eyebrow up.

“Well… for the most part.”

Everyone looked at each other again. My mind was blank, that couldn’t be hard to do. Why had they opened with the other one?

“Okay, it’s not that easy.” Ymir said, running her fingers through her hair. “First of all, it needs to take place in Hell, and only Hell to be valid. Secondly, these assholes take their contracts seriously, especially this one. If they are able to keep you fuckers out of their hair, they will use everything they can to do so.”

“We just need to attack them enough for them to attack us, it won’t be that hard.” Eren added, matter-of-factly.

“They won’t, they said _they_ wouldn’t hurt you so they will not attack you. They can have other factions attack you or they could kill (Y/n). It’s simple as that.” Ymir shot back.

My eyes widened, the thought of harm coming to (Y/n) and it being my fault again was too much. There was no way I would be able to handle that again.

Everything was quiet again, everyone too startled to speak. There was no way this would be easy, but nobody wanted to give up. We all looked up at Ymir, who sighed to herself and ran her fingers through her hair yet again.

“So you really want to go through with this.” Her eyes glazed over everyone in the room, stopping at mine for a brief second. “Fine, you have two days to get packed.”


End file.
